The North Carolina Department of Transportation is trying to alleviate that and make the area safer.

"It's a daily occurrence that clients that come from Charlotte, they can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour late with the backup of traffic on I-77 and then back here from Statesville Rd. to Gilead Rd.," said Perrigo.

Perrigo works in Huntersville Square, which is where Statesville Rd. and Gilead Rd. meet.

"It trickles off and it hits every back road there is," she said. "We have people cut through the parking lot to get out of the way of other traffic and it causes a hazard here in the parking lot as well."

The proposed projects would widen two portions of Statesville Rd. from Gilead Rd. to Holly Point Drive and from Northcross Center Ct. to Westmoreland Rd.

"Widening it still dumps onto Gilead, which is a smaller road," said Perrigo. "And with everything coming off 77, I don't know how that would help with that."

"I think it's a good idea to widen it," said Judy. "For the long term, something needs to be done."

Crews predict construction wouldn't begin until the year 2021, and drivers worry about what kind of road woes they'd face in the meantime.

"We can have people stopped at this light as far as a mile or two down," said Perrigo.